Today's Read: Death of a Dentist by M. C. Beaton

What's a small-town copper to do?  Poor Hamish Macbeth has an abscessed tooth and the pain is killing him. But when he gets to the dentist's office, he discovers a real killing: the dentist is dead in his chair. Murder, a robbery, and some funny business with a young girl have Hamish stumped. How is he going to solve all those crimes when his tooth hurts so much he can barely think? Thank goodness a neighbor has taken pity on him and invited him home for tea:

The cats had followed Hamish from the bathroom. One began to affectionately sharpen its claws on his trouser leg and he resisted an impulse to knock it across the kitchen. Angela was very fond of her cats and Hamish was fond of Angela.

—Death of a Dentist by M. C. Beaton (Hachette Book Group / Grand Central Publishing, 1998, p. 19 [originally published 1997])

Quick Facts

• Setting: The Scottish highlands, mostly in the town of Lochbudh
• Circumstances: Hamish has a murder and a robbery to solve while dealing with the town's tart and illegal whisky distillers; a second murder sends his investigation into another direction
• Characters: Hamish, the village constable; the regular cast of characters from the town; other police from the nearby town
• Genre: as cozy of a mystery as you can get: comforting, fun, and great escape
• Subplots: Hamish is missing Priscilla, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, and seems to be going through a change; he isn't quite as cheery and easygoing as usual, adding interest to the book
• Miscellaneous: this is the 13th installment in the series; best read in order because of the development of the characters, but you could jump in anywhere if you wanted
• Multimedia: the British television show based on the series is not worth your time: it has none of the charm of the books; do not miss the audiobooks read by the fantastic Davina Porter: her narration is fantastic

ISBN-13: 9780446606011 
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